460 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Gentiana. — 'L.inn. 



Calyx 4 — 5-parted or cleft. iSorolla marcescent, funnel-shaped, or campanulate, 4 — 5 

 or 6 — 8-cleft, sometimes with interposed spurious segments; segments entire or ciliated. 

 Stamens five, inserted on the tube of the corolla ; anthers sometimes connate. Style two- 

 parted, each bearing a stigma. Capsule one-celled. 



An extensive genus, containing about 150 species, according to Grisebach, 

 divided into numerous sections, but all plants mostly' perennial, with opposite 

 leaves, though varying much in habit. They are found in all parts of the 

 world, but are most numerous in temperate and cold regious. Their general 

 properties are those of the pure and simple bitters. Several of them are 

 officinal. 



G. lute a, Linn. — Leaves broad, ovate. Flowers whorled, yellow. Calyx membrana- 

 ceous, unilateral. 



Linn. Sp. PL 329 ; Woodville, ii. 273 ; Stephenson and Churchill, iii. 

 132 ; Lindley, Flor. Med. 519. 



Common Names. — Common Gentian ; Yellow Gentian ; Gall wort. 



Foreign Names.— Grande Gentiane, Fr. ; Gentiana gialla, It. ; Bitter- 

 wurzel, Ger. 



Description. — Root perennial, long, roundish, with numerous thick, contorted branches, 



of a brown colour ex- 

 Fig. 206. ternally, and yellowish 



within. The stem is sim- 

 ple, erect, hollow, round- 

 ish, somewhat annulated 

 at base, from three to four 

 feet high. The lower 

 leaves are petiolate, large, 

 spear-shaped, entire, rib- 

 bed, and plaited ; the cau- 

 line are ovate, concave, 

 smooth, sessile, and of a 

 yellowish-green colour, pe- 

 dunculate, in dense whorls. 

 The calyx is membrana- 

 ceous, and opens laterally. 

 The corolla is rotate, and 

 divided into five or more 

 long, narrow, spreading 

 segments. The filaments 

 vary from five to eight, are 

 shorter than the corolla, 

 G. lutea. an d alternate with its seg- 



ments, furnished with long, 

 erect, anthers. The ovary is conical, supporting two sessile, reflected stigmas. The 

 capsule is conical, divided into two valves, and contains numerous, small, compressed 

 seeds, with membranous edges. 



It is a native of the mountains of Europe, but thrives well under cultiva- 

 tion. It is said to owe its name to Gentius, a king of Illy ria, and is first 

 mentioned by Dioscorides, and also noticed by Pliny. The officinal part is 

 the root ; this, as*found in commerce, is in cylindrical, more or less branched 

 pieces, of various sizes, marked with annular wrinkles, and longitudinal fur- 

 rows. The exterior is yellowish-brown, internally spongy, and of a deep 

 yellow. The odour in the fresh state is peculiar and disagreeable, when dried 

 very feeble ; the taste is very bitter. The roots of other species, as the G. 

 purpurea, punctata, and panno?iica, are said to be often mixed with the 

 officinal, but as they possess much the same properties, this is of little con 



